Raising Hope: The Complete First Season

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All Rise...

Judge Clark Douglas hasn't raised a child, but he once raised a ruckus.

The Charge

They're trying to survive her childhood.

Opening Statement

"Take her to the fire station and let them take care of her. They give you
six hours to change your mind."

Facts of the Case

There are many ways one can become a single father. Here's how it happened to
Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff, The
Beast):

1. He had a one-night stand with a woman. 2. The woman turned out to
be a convicted serial killer, and was arrested the next morning. 3. Nine
months later, the woman gave birth to a child and was subsequently executed.

Now Jimmy's stuck attempting to figure out how to raise a child. His parents
Virginia (Martha Plimpton, The
Goonies) and Burt (Garret Dillahunt, No Country for Old Men) certainly
aren't much help, as they have alarmingly little knowledge and even fewer
financial resources which could be of use to Jimmy. His grandmother (Cloris
Leachman, Young Frankenstein) is also
of little use, as she has entered a bizarre period of senility in which she only
gains lucidity in brief spurts. Can Jimmy find a way to raise his child, make an
income, and romance the charming Sabrina (Shannon Woodward, The Riches) without falling flat on his
face?

The Evidence

When Fox debuted their new comedy lineup in the Fall of 2010, Raising
Hope certainly wasn't the show generating the most buzz. No, that was Running Wilde, the heavily-promoted, Mitch
Hurwitz-created extravaganza featuring well-known stars like Will Arnett, Keri
Russell, and David Cross. Surprisingly, Running Wilde tanked, while the
scrappy Raising Hope snatched up all the ratings and the critical
acclaim. It's a deserving survivor, offering a rather satisfying fusion of Modern Family, My Name is Earl, and Raising Arizona which grows increasingly
enjoyable as it proceeds.

The showrunners walk a tricky tightrope with these low-income hayseeds,
managing to generate an enormous amount of comedy at the characters' expense
without ever becoming smug or mean-spirited. Sure, there are moments of
cartoonish absurdity (particularly a lot of the material involving Leachman, who
seems game for just about anything the series throws at her), but there's just
enough reality buried there to make some of it amusingly familiar. There were a
few years during my childhood in which my family was just getting by, and the
show offers some hilarious glimpses of extreme penny-pinching (collecting
plastic bottles to turn in at the recycling place) and low-budget innovation
which hit that comic sweet spot of mildly exaggerated truth.

Raising Hope is imperfect and has room to grow, but what gives me
hope (no pun intended) for its future is the chemistry of the cast. These people
are a lot of fun to hang out with, even when their adventures turn into tired
sitcom plots (say, the episode about Virginia's jealous cousin played by Amy
Sedaris, Strangers with Candy) or
unfunny randomness (again, a whole lot of the stuff involving Leachman—the
show seems to get a much bigger kick out of the whole "old lady doing childish
and/or inappropriate things" than most viewers will).

Though the nervous, overwhelmed Jimmy is the series' lead (and an effective
one, I might add), Raising Hope belongs to Dillahunt and Plimpton. These
two have a blast tinkering with the absurdities of their characters, and they're
particularly fun when revealing previously untapped depths of wit (in Plimpton's
case) or stupidity (in Dillahunt's case: "I tried putting a condom on a banana
before we had sex, but she still got pregnant"). They often behave with less
maturity than their son, treating his efforts towards being responsible as mere
party-pooping. The show allows both characters to wander down enjoyably reckless
paths at times (such as an episode in which Dillahunt deliberately attempts to
stop taking measures to prevent Leachman from getting killed in an accident to
see how long it will take her to die), but generally concludes on moments of
sweetness and sells them with surprising ease.

While many shows fall into the trap of becoming unpersuasively gentle after
19 minutes of biting comedy (like the aforementioned Modern Family),
Raising Hope usually manages to retain a little bite during its
inevitable jaunts into sentiment. For instance, a Christmas-themed episode has
Dillahunt and Neff gathering up popular dolls from stores over the holidays and
then re-selling them at ridiculously inflated prices on Christmas Eve. At the
conclusion of the episode, Neff selflessly agrees to give up his share of the
money ($800, to be precise) for the sake of his daughter. In an inspired moment
of goodwill, Dillahunt agrees to give up his share, too. "That's another $800!"
Neff exclaims. "Actually, it's $1200," Dillahunt casually confesses. "I was
holding out on you a little bit."

Raising Hope: The Complete First Season arrives on DVD sporting a
perfectly ordinary 1.78:1 TV-on-DVD transfer. Though all 22 episodes are stuffed
onto three discs, compression doesn't appear to have damaged the image too
badly. Detail is sturdy, colors are bright, and blacks are respectably deep. The
Dolby 5.1 audio is also fine, with sharp dialogue and a well-mixed music track
(the show could stand a better theme song, though). Supplements include an
unaired version of the pilot, an extended version of the finale, a cast and crew
commentary on the official pilot, three disposable featurettes ("Meet the
Hopes," "Moments with Mrs. Chance," "Taking Chances: Shooting the Season
Finale"), a gag reel, and some deleted scenes.

Note: Raising Hope was originally titled Keep Hope Alive,
which would have been one of the stronger pun titles television has produced.
Alas, it was not to be.

Closing Statement

The show needs to find a better use for the gifted Ms. Leachman and could be
a little bolder on a narrative level, but Raising Hope is generally fun
stuff. Here's hoping it continues to improve in the years to come.